Lighting the Love of Literacy for Life
Welcome to the Forsyth County Reading Association webpage!
We hope you will spend some time learning more about our organization and will join us as a member.
Please check out our pages for more information about membership
and our different programs and projects!
About Us
The Forsyth County Reading Association (FCRA) is a nonprofit professional organization of individuals who are genuinely concerned with the improvement and advancement of reading, writing, and language arts and their integration into all subjects. Membership in the council is open to all people, including teachers, administrators, parents, and full-time high school, college, or graduate students who are engaged in or interested in the teaching or supervision of reading at any level.
Forsyth County Reading Association belongs to the North Carolina Reading Association (NCRA), a group of more than twenty councils across our state who join together to promote literacy, sponsor the Young Authors Project, and host the North Carolina Reading Conference, which is held annually in downtown Winston-Salem in the spring.
North Carolina Reading Association Vision Statement:
We envision a world in which literacy is a basic and essential human right with ample opportunities and support provided to all individuals to become readers and writers.
A message from our 2025-2026 NCRA President Heidi Perez:
Warm greetings,
I want to begin with a truth that should never be radical, but still too often is: Literacy is not a luxury. It is a right.
Not just the right to sound out words and know syllable types. Not just the right to pass a test or read a novel with a class. But the right to read a ballot, understand a news article, question a policy, share a story, write a letter, and imagine a future.
Literacy is the right to self-determination. And in 2026, that is the fight we have to show up for.
Our theme this year—Educate. Advocate. Empower.—is not a slogan. It’s a framework for justice.
EDUCATE, because every child, no matter their zip code or language, deserves access to instruction that builds real skill and real confidence in the reading, writing, listening, and speaking skills they to need thrive, not just survive.
ADVOCATE, because systems don’t change on their own. Someone has to stand up, speak up, write the letters, show up, and demand more for our students and families.
EMPOWER, because this work is not about fixing kids—it’s about removing barriers. It’s about seeing every student as fully capable and worthy of a future they choose for themselves. It’s our job to prepare them to make their own informed decisions.
Right now, we are watching legislation restrict access to books and national leaders restrict school funding allocated by the United States Congress. We are watching efforts to narrow what’s taught, what’s said, and what’s seen. In real time, we are watching as reading, writing, speaking and being made political.
So no matter our individual beliefs or political positions here’s what I want us to claim together today:
Literacy work is freedom work. Literacy work is human work. It is not neutral. It never has been.
When we teach someone to read with power, to write with purpose, to speak with clarity—we don’t just change their test score.
We expand their agency.
We equip them to participate.
We invite them to lead.
So let this be our charge as LITERACY leaders across the state:
When we plan, when we speak, when we advocate—we do so not only for our classrooms, but for our communities. We are here to say: Every North Carolinian has a right to literacy that opens doors—not just to college or career—but to citizenship, dignity, and voice.
We do this together. We do this with joy. We do this with fire.
Because to educate is to plant seeds. To advocate is to raise your voice.
And to empower is to ensure no one is left out of the story.
Let’s go build the literacy justice movement our students and families need.
Let’s lead it with joy and justice for our future and for our children’s future.
The Forsyth County Reading Association (FCRA) is a nonprofit professional organization of individuals who are genuinely concerned with the improvement and advancement of reading, writing, and language arts and their integration into all subjects. Membership in the council is open to all people, including teachers, administrators, parents, and full-time high school, college, or graduate students who are engaged in or interested in the teaching or supervision of reading at any level.
Forsyth County Reading Association belongs to the North Carolina Reading Association (NCRA), a group of more than twenty councils across our state who join together to promote literacy, sponsor the Young Authors Project, and host the North Carolina Reading Conference, which is held annually in downtown Winston-Salem in the spring.
North Carolina Reading Association Vision Statement:
We envision a world in which literacy is a basic and essential human right with ample opportunities and support provided to all individuals to become readers and writers.
A message from our 2025-2026 NCRA President Heidi Perez:
Warm greetings,
I want to begin with a truth that should never be radical, but still too often is: Literacy is not a luxury. It is a right.
Not just the right to sound out words and know syllable types. Not just the right to pass a test or read a novel with a class. But the right to read a ballot, understand a news article, question a policy, share a story, write a letter, and imagine a future.
Literacy is the right to self-determination. And in 2026, that is the fight we have to show up for.
Our theme this year—Educate. Advocate. Empower.—is not a slogan. It’s a framework for justice.
EDUCATE, because every child, no matter their zip code or language, deserves access to instruction that builds real skill and real confidence in the reading, writing, listening, and speaking skills they to need thrive, not just survive.
ADVOCATE, because systems don’t change on their own. Someone has to stand up, speak up, write the letters, show up, and demand more for our students and families.
EMPOWER, because this work is not about fixing kids—it’s about removing barriers. It’s about seeing every student as fully capable and worthy of a future they choose for themselves. It’s our job to prepare them to make their own informed decisions.
Right now, we are watching legislation restrict access to books and national leaders restrict school funding allocated by the United States Congress. We are watching efforts to narrow what’s taught, what’s said, and what’s seen. In real time, we are watching as reading, writing, speaking and being made political.
So no matter our individual beliefs or political positions here’s what I want us to claim together today:
Literacy work is freedom work. Literacy work is human work. It is not neutral. It never has been.
When we teach someone to read with power, to write with purpose, to speak with clarity—we don’t just change their test score.
We expand their agency.
We equip them to participate.
We invite them to lead.
So let this be our charge as LITERACY leaders across the state:
When we plan, when we speak, when we advocate—we do so not only for our classrooms, but for our communities. We are here to say: Every North Carolinian has a right to literacy that opens doors—not just to college or career—but to citizenship, dignity, and voice.
We do this together. We do this with joy. We do this with fire.
Because to educate is to plant seeds. To advocate is to raise your voice.
And to empower is to ensure no one is left out of the story.
Let’s go build the literacy justice movement our students and families need.
Let’s lead it with joy and justice for our future and for our children’s future.
2025-2026 FCRA Meetings Locations
Our September, October, and probably April meetings will be held in Salem Chapel's M3 Innovation Center, 620 Coliseum Drive NW.
Our November, January, and February meetings will be held on Zoom so that members from other NCRA councils can attend virtually.
Please check out our social media links below and watch your email to learn about any changes to meeting plans.
Our September, October, and probably April meetings will be held in Salem Chapel's M3 Innovation Center, 620 Coliseum Drive NW.
Our November, January, and February meetings will be held on Zoom so that members from other NCRA councils can attend virtually.
Please check out our social media links below and watch your email to learn about any changes to meeting plans.
Stay in the know about FCRA programs!
Website: www.ForsythCountyReading.com
Email: [email protected]
Facebook: Forsyth County Reading Association
Website: www.ForsythCountyReading.com
Email: [email protected]
Facebook: Forsyth County Reading Association
